Electronic block trading system and method of operation

ABSTRACT

A system and method are described and disclosed that are used for effecting large block trades of securities in an automated and anonymous matter in which fair pricing is carried out using features of the National Best Buy Offer (“NBBO”). The automated trading the system and method also will carry out negotiations to effect a trade in certain circumstances, though the preferred method of effecting trades is by automated trading. However, regardless of the trading method, anonymity of the trading counterparties is preserved. The system and method also tests the NBBO for each of the traded securities to ensure it is valid before an automated trade may take place.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/024,050, entitled Electronic Block Trading System and Method ofOperation, filed Jan. 31, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,890,417, whichclaims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/887,507, filed Jan. 31, 2007 and entitledElectronic Trading Platform System, both incorporated by referenceherein in their entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods that are used fortrading large blocks of securities. More specifically, the presentinvention relates to systems and methods that are used for anonymouslytrading large blocks of securities that includes auto-matching andequitable pricing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is commonplace for brokers and institutional investors to desire totrade large blocks of securities. This provides the ability to takeadvantage of market realities and hopefully maximize profits for theirclients. Whether the trader is acting for a buyer or seller, there is astrong desire to be able to trade anonymously so that his/her identityor trading intentions as the buyer or seller will not affect transactionpricing. Anonymity is also very important in the large block tradingtheater because there may not be a single entity with which to transactsuch large block trade and it may have to be split up among a number ofbuying or selling entities.

In the past there have been automated, anonymous, and equitable tradingsystems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,573,747 describes a system thatpermits institutional investors to communicate anonymously with eachother the purpose of arranging block trades from listed over-the-countersecurities. The system is run by a computer that controls systemoperations and permit subscribers to communicate with each other formaking large block trades of securities. The system maintains a book ofbuy and sell offers relating to each of several thousand securities.Offers are entered into an appropriate book as received and the offer iskeyed into a sequence table where they are ordered according to theprice offered to buy or sell. Both the book and a sequence table areupdated when there is a request to print the book for a security. Everysystem's subscriber has access to the book of any securities.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,501 describes an anonymous matching system. Thesystem carries out trades based on variable matching criteria. Thiscriteria includes dynamically variable counterparty credit limitsbetween counterparties. Failure of the credit limit test will block atransaction. The quantity of a permissible match will be the lowestcommon counterparty credit limit at the best bid ask price for thelargest available quantity for automatically completing the potentialmatching transaction. As such there must be matching on both sides ofthe transaction.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,165 describes an offer matching system that has atimed match acknowledgement. Once a match is made, the host computersends a match notification message to the key stations of the parties tothe transaction. The match notification message includes an “unconfirmedmatching transaction” indication for the trading instrument, which is anindication that the match has occurred but the deal has not beenconfirmed. A match acknowledgment data message must be sent to thecomputer by the transacting parties so that confirmation of the tradecan occur and the match can be completed. There is a timing systemassociated with a transmission and receipt of the messages associatedwith the acknowledgment.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,400 describes a risk-based system for the purchaseof goods. The system includes a financial clearinghouse receiving aregistration application for registering buyers and also for receivingrequests for goods or services from buyers via a computer network or anelectronic medium. The financial clearinghouse makes a dynamic,real-time risk classification of each buyer utilizing an onlinerepository of credit data. The risk classification is not set by eitherthe buyer or the seller but by the financial clearinghouse.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,924,082 describes a matching system for inter-partytrading that matches potential parties to a transaction according totrading and ranking information supplied by each potential party thenplaces the parties in negotiation to finalize the transaction. Thesystem includes remote terminals, a communications network, and amatching station. The matching station uses the trading and rankinginformation from each user to identify potential transactions betweencounterparties that are mutually acceptable based on the rankinginformation. Potential counterparties transmit negotiating messages tonegotiate some or all the terms of the transaction. The matching stationfirst matches potential counterparties who are acceptable to each otherbased on trading and ranking information and then enables thecounterparties to negotiate and finalize the terms of the transaction.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,087 describes a system for automatically identifyingmatching and near matching buyers and sellers in electronic markettransactions. The data that is provided includes linear ranges defininga low point, upper point, and preferred point for each dimension of theoffer. Most matching takes place at the preferred points and near matchpoints as determined by the system. The dimensions being considered mayinclude a function identifier, a party identifier, a deliverydestination, a product identifier, a price, a payment date, and an offerorigination date.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,178 describes a computer matching system thatcarries out auto-matching. This, however, is not an anonymoustransaction system. This system uses multiple elements as searchcriteria for matches. These elements are assigned a weight of importanceand each matching result will have a search score indicating asatisfaction level. The system performs ordering and ranking of thematching results according to the search score. The composite scoresthat have a level greater than a minimum acceptable score level arereturned to the user.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,496,851 is directed to managing negotiations betweenusers of a computer network. The system has a mechanism for dealing witha user's misbehavior during negotiations sessions. The systemfacilitates interactions among users by transmitting a first user'sproposal for an activity to another user. A response from the seconduser includes acceptance, rejection, or counteroffer. Activities includee-commerce and lend itself to a negotiation for goods and services.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,996,541 describes an anonymous trading system thatidentifies the bids and offers of counterparties while maintaining theanonymity of such potential counterparties and the confidentiality ofspecific credit limitations imposed by the anonymous potentialcounterparties. To maintain the anonymity, the system sets a one-bitflag indicating whether the credit limit condition has been satisfied.The system can carry out automated trades if there is sufficient creditbetween the two transacting parties.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,033,488 describes an anonymous trading system thatidentifies the best bids and offers from counterparties with which eachparty is eligible to deal. This patent is related to U.S. Pat. No.6,996,541.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,024,387 is directed to a system and method ofautomatically and autonomously buying and selling positions in fungibleproperties between subscribers. The fungible properties includesecurities. The system describes an automated system for providingfinancial information including trading information regardingsecurities, and conditional or transactional services in real-time via aglobal computer network. A subscriber can submit a conditional offer tobuy or sell. Conditional buy or sell offers are immediately conveyed toall subscribers on the system and such subscribers can accept or counterthe offer. An acceptance of or a counteroffer will be communicatedimmediately to the original offerer and/or other subscribers to thesystem. The system can be anonymous but it does not have to be.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,819 describes an automated trading network. Thesystem continuously collects invisible, anonymous, binding orders andindications of interest to buy and sell specific securities at variable,passively determined prices, and then executes trades based on thecollected orders and indications. The prices for the securities may belinked to the National Best Buy Offer (“NBBO”). The trade prices areequal to NBBO mid-point at the time of the trade.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,136,834 describes an electronic trading marketplace thatprovides for the automated transmission of orders of indication withoutmanual trader intervention. Traders can communicate with the electronictrading marketplace to anonymously negotiate trades of securities usingthe systems negotiation module. According to the patent, orders that areindications to trade are received by the electronic trading marketplace.These orders are transmitted among the traders in the form of nonbindingindications. Based on these indications, traders at one institution canenter into negotiations with traders at other institutions. The systemonly considers nonbinding indications.

U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2002/0055901 is directed to abroker-to-broker trading system to block trade equities. The systemaggregates trading alerts submitted by participating brokers wheneverthey receive block size trading orders from institutional investors. Thenegotiations are anonymous between potential counterparties and theexecuted price is at a current market midpoint. The trading alerts arenot orders. Participating brokers satisfy their orders independent ofthe system. The institutional investors never effect the trade on thesystem.

U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2002/016976 is directed to a system forproviding secure electronic brokered transactions. The system makes useof trading programs and their matching rules to communicate withcustomers using messaging middleware, which makes the system anelectronic broker for such customers. The electronic broker devicepublishes the types of trades it expects to broker.

U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2004/0059666 is directed to a computersystem for trading securities. The parties are not revealed to eachother until the final steps in negotiation. The system also has amechanism to determine that the prices are reasonable, which includesusing NBBO. The parties in determining pricing are expected to processorders fairly and hope that the other party will do the same. As such,the counterparties do not receive information about price movements ofthe other party. Moreover, the pricing model that is described is basedonly on negotiations of the parties.

U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2007/0055607 is directed to anautomated system for matching orders to buy and sell securities at themidpoint of the best bid and best offer (“BBO”). This system receivesand stores multiple, computer-generated orders of any size transmittedby algorithmic, program, and other automated trading systems. Thetransactions provided to a buyer or seller may include instructions forthe disclosure of selected message data to one or more marketparticipants. Preprogram response data is received from one of the oneor more market participants in response to message data and thepreprogram response data is a function of a previously authorizedresponse.

Canadian Patent Application Ser. No. 2,338,145 is directed to anetwork-based trading system that embraces team investing. The systemallows traders to band together and trade as a group. The system obtainsaccount information from customers. This information includes customerrisk ratings. Each customer anonymously posts information for trading.The system also has a method of determining if the trading price isfair. The risk assessment information is provided by a customer whenhe/he first enters the system. All transactions are based on customerrisk ratings and trade risk ratings.

Canadian Patent Application Ser. No. 2,394,967 is directed to a fixedincome securities trading framework for facilitating a negotiatedexchange of fixed income securities. A search engine of the system, inresponse to a request from a system participant, queries a fixed incomedatabase for a set of fixed income securities meeting the criteria thathas been specified. On selection of the desired security, thetransaction engine facilitates an order execution against posted bids oroffers. The transaction engine interacts with the pricing engine duringorder executed to determine the price of the selected securities. Thetransaction engine further interacts with the rules database to ensurecompliance with preset system rules. Some form of auto-trading may beperformed according to the system criteria.

PCT Application Pub. No. WO02095638 is directed to a financial markettrading system. The system includes a trading computer, a data store,and one or more trading party sites. The trading party sites communicatewith the trading computer over a packet-switch communications network.The system has a trading matching capability. The system also generatestrading ticket data with regard to transactions.

The prior art systems that have been discussed do not include thefeatures of the present invention for carrying out automated, anonymouslarge block trades of securities at fair pricing as will be set forth inremainder of this specification referring to the drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a system and method for making large blocktrades easier and less costly. The present invention carries out suchlarge block trades, preferably, by anonymous auto-matching based on adetermination of equitable pricing for the large block trades. Thispricing method of the present invention is designed to eliminatepotential inequities associated with “gaming” and “fishing” that takesplace in the security trading industry.

The system and method of the present invention transacts trades with twotypes of orders: Firm Orders and Indicative Orders. A Firm Order, as theterm is used herein, is an order in which the volume is committed to betraded. A Firm Order can be auto-matched or pushed into negotiation. AnIndicative (or Conditional) Order, as the term is used herein, is anorder in which the volume has not been committed to be traded. AnIndicative Order cannot be auto-matched but must first be converted to aFirm Order before auto-matching or being pushed into negotiations. It isunderstood that the term Indicative and Conditional may be usedinterchangeably.

In order to minimize any advantage obtained by manipulating prices, thepresent invention bases its auto-matching trading price on apredetermined relationship with the NBBO. Further, to ensure that theNBBO has not been manipulated and insulate liquidity providers fromtraders who attempt to time orders to take advantage of sudden changesin the NBBO, the present invention will test the NBBO to ensure that itis fair and valid before allowing orders to auto-match.

To the extent that the security to be traded is illiquid and the pricingtest would fail the NBBO tests, such securities would not be availablefor auto-matching. When such situations occur, the system and method ofthe present invention will push price discovery to direct negotiationsbetween the interested counterparties.

The present invention also provides for prescreening of counterpartiesbased on a statistical score derived from an analysis of previousbehavior on the system. This will provide assurances that the anonymoustrading activities conducted by this potential counterparty on thesystem will be supportive of a legitimate opportunity to trade.

According to the present invention, auto-matching will occur when atleast the following conditions are met: (i) the NBBO passes the systemtests designed to ensure that the auto-match trade is priced based on avalid and reasonable NBBO, (ii) the two price limit ranges of thecounterparties either match or cross, (iii) the minimum volumes of bothorders are met by the counterparties, and (iv) one of the two crossedprices must fall within the NBBO.

The system and method of the present invention will invitecounterparties into negotiations if at least one of the followingconditions exist: (i) the two orders cross or match but the cross priceranges fall outside the NBBO and the disadvantaged party has selectedpredetermined protections for transacting on the system, (ii) the twoorders cross or match but are prevented from auto-matching because theNBBO fails the system tests, or (iii) two orders do not cross or match,but the negotiation sensitivity settings cross for the counterparties.

The negotiations between counterparties with regard to Firm Orders willproceed once the initial prices have been entered by the counterparties.Once these initial prices have been entered, each counterparty's offerwill be presented to the other counterparty and the volume will be theoverlapped volume of the counterparties. Either counterparty may acceptthe other side's Firm Offer at any time. If at any time duringnegotiation the prices match or cross, the system will automaticallyconsummate the trade at the mid-point price between the twocounterparties' price limit ranges. The negotiated trade is made withoutreference to the NBBO.

Indicative Orders are not available for trading according to the systemand method of the present invention. In order for Indicative Orders tobe traded, they must first be in condition for auto-matching ornegotiation. Once that happens, the system and method of the presentinvention can invite the party issuing the Indicative Order toparticipate in the system. The system and method of the presentinvention will invite the party issuing the Indicative Order to changestate to a Firm Order if one of the following occur: (i) thecounterparty order has a predetermined status indicated, (ii) the systemdetermines that there is an opportunity to trade or negotiate, (iii) thescorecard for each of the counterparties meets the minimum filterrequirements for the other party, (iv) one order is a Firm Order and thecounterparty with the Firm Order will be informed that the system hasinvited an Indicative Order to change state to a Firm Order, or (v) bothorders are Indicative Orders, then they both will be invited by thesystem to change their state to Firm Orders.

An object of the present invention is to provide a system and method foreffecting large block trades of securities in an automated and anonymousmanner that will not be subject to unfair pricing for the trade.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a system andmethod for effecting large block trades of securities in an automatedand anonymous manner that uses filtering based on a counterparty'sactivity on the system to determine if these counterparties meet eachothers criteria for trading with each other under the specificcircumstances.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a system andmethod for effecting large block trades of securities in an automatedand anonymous manner through the use of Firm and Indicative Orders.

A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a system andmethod for effecting large block trades of securities in an automatedand anonymous manner through the use of Firm and Indicative Orders wherepricing is based on features of the NBBO.

These and other objects will be set forth in detail in the remainder ofthis specification referring to the drawings and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a representative block diagram of the system of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 shows an example of trade pricing when the buy and sell pricesmatch and fall within the NBBO.

FIG. 3 shows an example of trade pricing when the buy and sell pricesmatch but are higher than the NBBO.

FIG. 4 shows an example of trade pricing when the buy and sell pricesmatch but are lower than the NBBO.

FIG. 5A shows an example of trade pricing when the buy and sell pricescross and they fall within the NBBO.

FIG. 5B shows an example of trade pricing when the buy and sell pricescross and they are within the NBBO but both are below the NBBOmid-point.

FIG. 6A shows an example of trade pricing when the buy and sell pricescross but they are both above the NBBO.

FIG. 6B shows an example of trade pricing when the buy and sell pricescross but they are both below the NBBO.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the main display window for use in thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a New Order display window for use in thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a drop-down menu when the Windows icon inFIG. 7 is activated.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a Symbol Watch List display window for usein the present invention.

FIG. 11 shows an example of an Order Blotter display window for use inthe present invention.

FIG. 12 shows an example of an Order Form display window for use in thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 shows an example of a Negotiations display window for use in thepresent invention.

FIGS. 14 and 15 show examples of Negotiation display windows associatedwith starting a pre-trade negotiation.

FIGS. 16 and 17 show examples of Negotiation display windows associatedwith starting a post-trade negotiation.

FIG. 18 shows an example of a System Configuration display window foruse in the present invention.

FIG. 19 shows an example of a Sponsored Firm Configuration displaywindow for use in the present invention.

FIG. 20 shows an example of a Sponsored Firm Symbol List display windowfor use in the present invention.

FIG. 21 shows an example of a Trade Desk Configuration display windowfor use in the present invention.

FIG. 22 shows an example of a Trading Client Preferences display windowfor use in the present invention.

FIG. 23 shows an example of Trader Price Sensitivity Default displaywindow for use in the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention is a system and method for effecting large blocktrades of securities in an automated and anonymous matter in which fairpricing is carried out using features of the NBBO. When referring to theNBBO, this specification is referring to the term applying to theSecurities and Exchange Commission requirement that brokers mustguarantee customers the best available ask price when they buysecurities and the best available bid price when they sell securities.The NBBO is updated throughout a given trading day to show the highestand lowest offers for a security among all exchanges and market makers.

Using the NBBO, the method of the present invention permitscounterparties from the sell-side and buy-side to find prospectivecounterparties of interest for large block trades. Preferably, tradesperformed according to the system and method of the present inventionare auto-matched. Potential counterparties have the ability to enterFirm or Indicative Orders into the system for effecting trades. Tradeson the system of the present invention can only be carried out if theyare Firm Orders. Firm Orders can be anonymously (1) auto-matched or (2)pushed to negotiations between the counterparties under certaincircumstances as will be described. Indicative Orders cannot be tradedon the system of the present invention until such orders have beenconverted to Firm Orders.

The terms listed below will have the following definitions for use inthe description of the present invention:

Anonymity shall mean that a counterparty using the system and method ofthe present invention is not aware of the identity of the othercounterparty.

Buy-side shall mean a fund manager, pension fund, mutual fund, hedgefund or other like entity.

Firm Order shall mean an order in which the volume is committed to tradeand a trade will result if a matching order is entered on the system.

Firm Staged Order shall mean the order has been entered on the systemthrough an OMS or EMS, and requires a trader to change the order type toFirm before it can become an actionable order on the system.

Indicative Order shall mean an order in which the volume has not beencommitted to trade and the trader is not bound to trade the ordervolume.

Indicative Stage Order shall mean the order has been entered on thesystem through an OMS or EMS and requires a trader to change the ordertype to Indicative before it can become an actionable order on thesystem.

Information Disclosure shall mean information published by the systemand method about it particular security.

Invitation shall mean when the system invites an Indicative Order tochange to a Firm Order so that it can be traded. An Invitation may alsobe when the system invites an order that does not cross another orderbut is within the price and volume ranges of another order for opening anegotiation with such other order.

Leaves Volume shall mean the difference between the order volume and thetraded volume.

Order shall mean a vehicle for the trader to communicate his intentionto trade.

Scope shall mean the method by which an order is disseminated in themarketplace.

Sell-Side shall mean a registered broker or dealer handling financialinstruments such as equities, bonds, derivatives or the like.

Scorecard shall mean a calculation made by the system of the presentinvention based on the history of a user on the system.

Trade Volume shall mean the accumulated trade order volume, which isincremented by the system as trades occur.

The present invention provides advantages for both the buy-side andsell-side of transactions. With regard to the buy-side, the presentinvention permits a trader to anonymously place an order in one marketthat can reach all the sell-side members on the system and allay theconcerns about leakage of information. With regard to the sell-side, thepresent invention provides an ability to participate as either aproprietary trader or a proxy for his/her clients and maintainanonymity. This system, from the standpoint of the sell-side trader, canbe restricted to trading only with orders from a particular firm orexposed to all other orders of the system.

Referring to FIG. 1, a representative block diagram of the system of thepresent invention is shown generally at 100. According to FIG. 1, trader102, whether a buy-side or sell-side trader, may enter orders intosystem environment 120 in one of two ways. The first, and preferred,method of entering orders is using system client browser 106. The systemclient browser may be a conventional personal computer, desktopcomputer, work station, or the like programmed for use with the system.The system client browser will permit the trader to carry out all tradefunctions via a secure wired or wireless network. In FIG. 1,communication between system client browser 106 and web tier 124, whichis within the system environment 120, is through a wireless network thatincludes Internet 110. Web tier 124 is conventional web server thatprocesses the Internet signal in a conventional matter for use by systemenvironment 120.

The second method involves a trader's use of his/her existing OMS orEMS, such as buy-/sell-side trading system OMS or EMS 104, for orderentry and manipulation. When this is done, both the buy-side andsell-side will communicate via a financial information exchange (“FIX”)or other appropriate interface. Communications from unit 104 are sent toOMS adapter 122. The OMS adapter is used to communicate transactions andresponses between the traders in the system environment. Messages thatmay be supported by the OMS adapter include, but are not limited to,“New Order,” “Cancel/Replace Order,” “Cancel Order,” and “ExecutionReport” messages.

According to the present invention, orders that are transmitted tosystem environment 120 by the trader using either of the two entrymethods are sent to system server 126 that will process the orderaccording to the rules of the system. When trades are effected,information about the trades, besides being sent to the counterpartiesto the transaction, is forwarded to two locations. This tradeinformation is sent to the trade reporting and clearing gateway 128 andsponsor back-office adapter 130. The trade reporting and clearinggateway 128 transmits trade reports to the Exchange and clearing filesto the Clearing Correspondent. With respect to exchange and clearingcorrespondent 132, the Exchange will report the trades out to the marketand the Clearing Correspondent will clear and settle the trades.

Sponsor back-office adapter 130 will transmit trade and orderinformation to sponsor back-office 108 for record keeping. Thisinformation will specifically include, but not limited to, trade andorder details.

As discussed previously, there are four types of orders processed by thesystem. These are Firm Orders, Indicative Orders, Firm Staged Orders,and Indicative Staged Orders. Either type of staged order providestraders with a mechanism to send incompletely defined orders to systemenvironment via the OMS adapter knowing that these orders will not betraded before editing. Each order that is processed by the system willhave a specific order state, which is represented by a designation thatis associated with the order. The order may have preferably, one of tenstates. The states are found in Table 1:

TABLE 1 Order State Description Inactive This symbol indicates a StagedFirm or Indicative Order that does not interact with other orders on thesystem. Active This designation indicates an order that is queued foraction in the system of the present invention. If the designation isassociated with a Firm Order, it indicates an order that is not closeand does not cross any other order within the system. If the designationis associated with an Indicative Order, it indicates an order that isnot close and does not cross any other order in the system or the ordermay be close to or cross another order but is not invited by the systemto become a Firm Order. Indicative This designation indicates anIndicative Order that has Invited to been invited by the system toconvert to a Firm Order Trade Indicative The designation indicates anIndicative Order that has Invited to been invited by the system toconvert to a Firm Order Negotiate to initiate a negotiation. Invited toThis designation indicates an Indicative Order that has Trade beeninvited by the system to convert to a Firm Order. Invited to Thisdesignation indicates an Indicative Order that has Negotiate beeninvited by a the system to convert to a Firm Order to negotiate. CloseThis designation indicates a Firm Order that has a potential negotiationcounterparty; however, the counterparty is an Indicative Order. CrossedThis designation indicates a Firm Order that has a possible trade match;however, the counterparty is an Indicative Order. Matched Thedesignation indicates a Firm Order has been fully matched by one or morecounter orders on the system. Post Trade This designation indicates theorder has been involved Negotiation in an auto-match and the two partiesare negotiating for an additional trade. In Negotiation This designationindicates that the order is involved in one or more pre-tradenegotiations.

In order for there to be a trade effected between Firm Orders andIndicative Orders, or two Indicative Orders, there must be an invitationby the system to convert the Indicative Order to a Firm Order so thetransaction can be completed. The order states that result from thesystem inviting an Indicative Order to convert to a Firm Order when theother order is a Firm Order are shown in Table 2:

TABLE 2 Firm Order Invite Indicative Order Firm Order Indicative OrderStatus Invite Status State State Invite: Yes Invite: Yes Crossed Invitedto Trade Close Invited to Negotiate Invite: Yes Invite: No CrossedInvited to Trade Close Invited to Negotiate Invite: No Invite: YesCrossed Active Close Invite: No Invite: No Crossed Active Close

According to the four states shown in Table 2, Firm Orders are entitledto see the presence of the Indicative Order regardless of whether theIndicative Order has indicated a positive Invite Status. In the firsttwo states, the Indicative Order will become aware of the Firm Orderbecause it was invited by the system to convert to a Firm Order. In thelast two situations in Table 2, the Indicative Order will not be awareof the Firm Order since it had not been invited by the system to convertto a Firm Order.

In order for there to be a trade effected between two Indicative Orders,there must be an invitation by the system to convert to a Firm Order soa transaction can be completed. The order states that result from thesystem inviting an Indicative Order to convert to a Firm Order when theother order is an Indicative Order are shown in Table 3:

TABLE 3 Indicative Counterparty Counterparty Order Invite IndicativeOrder Indicative Order Status Invite Status Firm Order State StateInvite: Yes Invite: Yes Indicative Invited Indicative Invited to Tradeto Trade Indicative Invited Indicative Invited to Negotiate to NegotiateInvite: Yes Invite: No Active Active Invite: No Invite: Yes ActiveActive Invite: No Invite: No Active Active

According to the four states shown in Table 3, in the first situation,an Indicative Order can see the other Indicative Order since both havetheir Invite Status set to “Yes.” In the latter three situations, thesystem requires that both parties have their Invite Status set to “Yes”before the party can see the results of the system's invitation.

According to the system of the present invention, the states that areshown in Table 2 reflect the states of the symbol for a security to betraded in system environment shown 120. The activity state of a symbolis derived from the state of the orders for that symbol. A symbol'sprimary market state controls its state in the system of the presentinvention. The relationship of the primary market state and system stateare shown in Table 4:

TABLE 4 Primary Market State System State Permitted Actions Open Open(if the NBBO is valid) Auto-matching Negotiation only (if the Pre-TradeNegotiation NBBO is valid) Post-Trade Negotiation Regulatory Halt HaltNone Non-Regulatory Negotiation Only Pre-Trade Negotiation HaltPost-Trade Negotiation Other State Closed None

The symbol activity state reflects the state of orders for that symbol.The highest order state is published on the system as the symbol'sactivity. The symbol activity state is sent throughout the system basedon visibility of the orders in system. The symbol activity statesaccording to the present invention are shown in Table 5:

TABLE 5 Symbol Activity Description Inactive No orders for this symbolare recorded in the system. Active Invited or active orders are in thesystem. There are no orders close, crossed, or in negotiation. Close Thesymbol is comprised of orders that are close, invited, or active. Thereare no orders that cross or in negotiation. Crossed The symbol iscomprised of orders that are crossed, close, invited, or active. Thereare no orders in negotiation. In The symbol has at least one pair ofFirm Orders in a process Negoti- of a pre-trade or post-tradenegotiation. ation

If a trader enters an Indicative Order into the system, it could triggera symbol activity change from Active to either Close or Crossed. Thetrader who entered the Indicative Order would know that his ordercrossed in the market even though his order is not a Firm Order becausehe would be invited by the system to firm up. If the symbol state isHalted, all outstanding orders for that symbol are cancelled and no neworders are accepted. When a Halt is in place for a symbol that symbol'sstate is always Inactive.

According to the present invention matching is carried out eitherautomatically or at the conclusion of a negotiation. As stated, thepreferred method of trading using the system and method of the presentinvention is auto-matching. Auto-matching, however, can only take placeif the primary market state is “Open” and there is a valid NBBO. In thecase of a negotiation, it will be completed when one of the partiesaccepts, matches, or crosses a counteroffer.

When a Firm Order is received by the system of the present inventionfrom either buy-side or sell-side, there will be an attempt to match theorder with an opposing-side order. As part of the selection process, thesystem and method of the present invention will eliminate selectedorders that have restrictions associated with them, for example,legislative restrictions or failing to pass the requirements in thematch filter.

The list of orders that result from the first screening will have atrading priority assigned to them based on the trading prioritypreference defined by the most recent arriving order of thecounterparties to the potential transaction. Preferably, the prioritywill be price or volume, then time. However, it is understood that othercriteria could be used and still be within the scope of the presentinvention.

If trading priority preference is “price,” then the associated orderswill be given priority for auto-matching based on the (1) best price,(2) largest volume, and (3) earliest effective timestamp. However, ifthe trading priority preference is “volume,” then the associated orderswill be given priority for auto-matching based on the (1) largestvolume, (2) best price, and (3) earliest effective timestamp.

When two orders are auto-matched, the trade price is calculatedaccording to the pricing methods described below and the volume is thelargest overlapped volume. The system of the present invention williterate through the list of potential counterparties according to theirpriority attempting to trade as long as there is available auto-matchvolume.

The price of the trade may be based on two types on matching. The firstis when the prices of the counterparties “Match.” This means there is anactual price match by the counterparties. When this happens, the tradewill proceed with the largest overlapped volume. The second is when thecounterparties prices “Cross.” This happens when the buy price is higherthan the sell price. When this is the case, the trading price willfollow the pricing rules set forth below.

According to the pricing method of the present invention, if the orderprices match and fall within the NBBO spread, the trade will occur atthe match price. This is shown in FIG. 2, generally at 200. In FIG. 2,the applicable NBBO price spread is $40.10-$40.14. The matching buy andsell price is $40.13. Since the matching price is within the NBBO, thetrade will be priced at the matching price for the largest overlappingvolume of the symbol.

There is a different method of determining the trading price if the buyand sell price match but the matching price is outside the NBBO pricespread. This can happen in two cases. The first is the matched price isabove the NBBO price spread and the second is when it is below.

Referring to FIG. 3, generally at 300, pricing will be described whenthe matched price is above the NBBO price spread. If the matched tradingprice is higher than the NBBO and the buyer indicated that it willpermit matches outside the NBBO, the trade price will be the highermatched price and the advantage will go the seller.

Referring to FIG. 4, generally at 400, pricing will be described whenthe matched price is below the NBBO price spread. If the matched tradingprice is lower than the NBBO and the seller indicated that it willpermit matches outside the NBBO, the trade price will be the lowermatched price and the advantage will go the buyer.

It is understood that the buyer or seller, which is not the advantagedparty, may indicate that he/she is not agreeable to trade outside theNBBO but if the trade pricing does not satisfy this pricing rule woulddesire to be pushed into negotiation before canceling the transaction.However, if either party to the transaction indicates no desire tonegotiate, then both orders will be returned for future matching if thispricing rule is not satisfied.

Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, generally at 500 and 510, respectively,pricing will be described when the buy and sell prices cross, but arewithin the NBBO price spread. Referring to FIG. 5A at 500, if the buyand sell prices cross, and straddle the NBBO mid-point, the trade pricewill be at the NBBO mid-point.

In FIG. 5A, the NBBO price spread is $40.10-$40.14 and the buy price is$40.14 and the sell price is $40.10. This straddles the NBBO mid-pointat $40.12, so the trade price will be at the midpoint.

Referring to FIG. 5B at 510, if the buy and sell prices cross and bothare within the NBBO but are both below the NBBO midpoint, the closestprice to the NBBO mid-point will be the trade price. In FIG. 5B, the buyprice is $40.11, the sell price is $40.10, and the NBBO mid-point is$40.12. The trade price will be at $40.11 and the advantage will go tothe seller. In like fashion, if the buy price is $40.14, the sell priceis $40.13, and the NBBO mid-point is $40.12. The trade price will be at$40.13 and the advantage will go to the buyer.

Referring to FIGS. 6A and 6B, trade pricing will now be addressed whenthe price closest to the NBBO mid-point is outside the NBBO pricespread. Referring to FIG. 6A, generally at 600, it is seen that the buyprice is $40.17, the sell price is $40.16, and the NBBO mid-point is$40.12, with the NBBO price spread being $40.14-$40.10. If the buyer, inthis case, has indicated that it will trade outside the NBBO pricespread, then the trade price will be the price closest to the NBBOmid-point. So, in FIG. 6A, the trade price will be $40.16 and the sellerwill have been advantaged in the transaction because the trade price ishigher than the NBBO.

FIG. 6B, generally at 610, it is seen that the buy price is $40.08, thesell price is $40.07, and the NBBO mid-point is $40.12, with the NBBOprice spread being $40.14-$40.10. If the seller, in this case, hasindicated that it will trade outside the NBBO price spread, then thetrade price will be the price closest to the NBBO mid-point. So, in FIG.6B, the trade price will be $40.08 and the buyer will have beenadvantaged in the transaction because the trade price is lower than theNBBO.

As indicated above, if the counterparties price match or cross but falloutside the NBBO price spread, auto-matching will only go ahead if thedisadvantaged party had previously agreed to permit auto-matching undersuch circumstances. If the disadvantaged party has not agreed toauto-matching under these circumstances, then the buy and sell orderswill be pushed into pre-trade negotiations. Further, such buy and sellorders also will be pushed into pre-trade negotiations, even if thedisadvantaged party has agreed to permit auto-matching outside the NBBOprice spread if the symbol has a nonregulatory halt in effect as itsprimary market state.

Since the system and method of the present invention uses the NBBO tosome degree to effect fair pricing, it also provides for a method totest whether the NBBO is valid for use. If the system and methoddetermine that the NBBO is not valid even though the two orders arematched or crossed, it will not permit auto-matching of the orders butwill push them into negotiations.

A first situation in which the NBBO will be deemed invalid is if itsspread is significantly wider than its historical recent average. Thesystem will determine the historical recent average for a symbol bylooking at a predetermined number of days worth of history with regardto the symbol and applying a variance percentage to that range. If atany point in time, the current spread of the symbol exceeds thatvariance amount, the system will consider the NBBO invalid and notpermit auto-matching even if there is a match or cross of orders, andthe system will push the transaction into negotiation. However, ifduring the negotiation the NBBO again becomes valid and all otherauto-matching criteria is met, the system will auto-match the orders.

Second method of deeming the NBBO invalid is if the system determinesthat the NBBO price spread is excessive compared to the share price. TheNBBO will be deemed invalid even if it falls within the average spreadparameters referred to above. For example if a symbol has the shareprice of $10.00 and the current spread is $2.00, which would be 20% ofthe share price, the system would likely consider this excessive and,the NBBO would be invalid. In comparison, however, if the NBBO spreadfor symbol was $10.00 and the share price was $10,000.00, which would be0.01% of the share price, then the NBBO spread would likely beconsidered valid. However, it is understood that NBBO testing will bedifferent for each symbol and the system will take the specific symbolinto consideration when determining whether or not the NBBO is valid orinvalid under this test.

Pre-trade negotiations can be initiated between traders when the ordersof the counterparties are (i) both Firm Orders, (ii) both orders passthe counterparty's perspective scorecard filtering, and (iii) the ordersare close in both price and volume or close in price or volume, andcrossing or overlapping in the other. Order prices are considered“close” if they do not cross but fall within a price buffer of eachother. A price buffer for an order is its limit price +/− its pricesensitivity. Price sensitivity is expressed in a number of ticks orpennies. For example, a buy order may have a price limit of $40.11 witha price sensitivity of +$0.03; while, a sell order may have a pricelimit of $40.07 with a price sensitivity of −$0.02. The system can beconfigured to automatically generate price sensitivity values based ontrader preferences.

Order volume ranges are considered “close” if they do not overlap butfall within a volume buffer of each other. For orders with a smallvolume, the volume buffer maximum is equal to its Leaves Volume. Fororders with a large volume, the volume buffer minimum equals the minimumvolume minus the volume sensitivity that is expressed in a number ofshares of the symbol. The counterparty's order's Leaves Volume must begreater than or equal to this calculated value. The system can beconfigured to automatically generate a volume sensitivity value based ontrader preferences. This feature is a system option.

When a pre-trade negotiation is commenced between two traders, eachtrader must define a price and volume for his/her starting offer. Thevolume value cannot exceed the available volume or Leaves Volume. Whenthe stating offers for both trades have been entered into the system, asystem will expose the counterparties to these initial positions fornegotiation. As to the volume that will be exposed, it will be the lowerof the two volumes. The traders will negotiate price and volume throughany number of offers and counteroffers until agreement is reached or oneof the parties cancel the negotiation.

If during a negotiation, one or both of the orders matches with anotherFirm Order in the auto-match process or with another parallelnegotiation outside the present negotiation, the system will re-createthe applicable offer volume for the present negotiation while there isenough remaining volume to meet the minimum volume requirement.

A pre-trade negotiation may be concluded in at least one of four ways.The first is during the negotiations one of the counterparties acceptsthe offer terms of the other, which results in the trade. Second, theoffer presented by either counterparty results in a match or cross whichwill effect the trade. Third, a counterparty's offer changes the ordervolume in such a way that it is no longer available for negotiation,e.g., the change results in the volume not being enough to meet theminimum volume requirement of the counterparty. And fourth, one of theorders matches with another Firm Order in the auto-match process or withanother parallel negotiation outside this negotiation and there is notenough volume remaining to meet the minimum volume requirement.

Post-trade negotiations are ones that take place after an auto-matchedtrade and the counterparties desire to negotiate additional trades.Post-trade negotiations may be initiated in at least three situations.The first is when both Firm Orders have Leaves Volumes available. Thesecond is both Firm Orders have the post-trade preference set to Active.Third, both Firm Orders pass the counterparty's filter settings.

In post-trade negotiation, each trader must define the price and volumeof his/her starting offer. The volume should not exceed the availableLeaves Volume. Once both trades have been entered their starting offersinto the system, the system will expose each starting offer to the othercounterparty. The volume, however, will be the lower of the two volumes.There can be any number of offers and counteroffers between the traders.Each trader may terminate the negotiation by accepting thecounterparty's price and volume, matching the counterparty's offer,crossing the counterparty's offer, or canceling the negotiation.

Referring to FIG. 1, reporting and clearing will be described. Systemenvironment 120 has trade reporting and clearing gateway 128 and sponsorback-office adapter 130 that are used for reporting and clearing. Thetrade reporting and clearing gateway connects to exchange and clearingcorrespondent 132, and the sponsor back-office adapter connects tosponsor back-office 108.

Trading reporting and clearing gateway 128 performs at least thefollowing two function: anonymity and real-time trade reporting.

The system of the present invention may act as a broker dealer intransactions it handles to set up relationships with clearingcorrespondents. By establishing this type of arrangement, the anonymityof sponsoring and clearing correspondents may be preserved. For example,a trader and his/her representing clearing correspondents will see the“system” as the counterparty rather than the real counterparty.

A main purpose of the trade reporting is to fulfill at least two typesof trade reporting needs: fills and trade reports. Fills are what occurevery time there is an auto-match or successful negotiation. Morespecifically, for each completed transaction, there will be a buy orderfill and a sell order fill. Fills are sent in real-time to therespective traders who placed the orders. A copy of each fill isforwarded from system server 126 to sponsor back-office adapter 130 andthen to the appropriate sponsor back-office 108. The information onfills that is sent to a sponsor back-office system may be used by thatsponsor to perform a number of tasks, which includes risk management.

In order to maintain anonymity and prevent improper actions in the useof the system, a sponsoring broker's front office is not informed offills unless the order was from that sponsoring broker. This avoids thepotential leak of trading intentions.

Trade reports are generated for every match. Trade reports may be sentfrom system server 126 to trade reporting and clearing gateway 128 isreal-time or batch form at certain predetermined intervals. Thesereports may also be sent from system server 126 to sponsor back-officeadapter 130. As such, trade reports may be sent to the trading partiesthrough exchange and clearing correspondent 132 and to their sponsoringback-offices at 108. To preserve anonymity, in each case, thecounterparty in these records will be shown as the “system.”

The foregoing has provided an overview of the system and method forhandling transactions according to the present invention, and thereporting. In light of the foregoing, a more detailed description willnow be provided with regard to operation of the system using systemclient browser 106 to enter orders in system environment 120 forcarrying out a novel aspects of the present invention. It is understood,however, that the trader, such as trader shown at 102 in FIG. 1, mayenter orders into system environment 120 through his/her OMS or EMS andstill be able to use all of the features that are provided by the systemclient browser. For purposes of describing the system and method of thepresent invention, it is contemplated that trading may be accomplishedby traders through trading desks and sponsors. Therefore, for purposesof understanding the operation of the present invention, the use of theterm “trader” may apply to each and all of “traders,” “trading desks,”or “sponsors” unless specified differently.

Referring to FIG. 1, trader 102 interacts with the system of the presentinvention using system client browser 106. The system client browserwill have a display screen that trader 102 would use for purposes ofinteracting with system environment 120 via a wired or wireless network.As shown in FIG. 1, a wireless network is shown as Internet 110.However, is understood that any conventional wired or wireless networkcould be used and still be within the scope of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, generally at 700, the main screen display is shownfor system client browser 106. Display 700 includes display identifierline 702, address line 704, and window 706. Window 706 is for selectionicons displayed on it.

The icons shown on window 706 are New Order icon 708, Windows icon 710,Actions icon 712, and Help icon 714. As will be explained in greaterdetail, New Order icon 708, when activated, will open a new order form;Windows icon 710, when activated, will open a drop-down menu; Actionsicon 712, when activated, will open a drop-down menu; and Help icon 714,when activated, will open a conventional Help drop-down menu.

When New Order icon 708 is activated, it will open a New Order formdisplay that is shown in FIG. 8, generally at 800. Referring to FIG. 8,display 802 includes display identifier line 804 and window 804. Window804 includes fields for the trader to provide information for a new buyor sell order. When a trader desires to place a new order on the systemof the present invention, he/she displays 802 and provides theappropriate information. The following information must be provided bythe trader in the New Order form or the information must be generated bythe system based on the preferences. If the complete set of requiredinformation is not provided, the order will not be accepted by thesystem.

At 806, the trader must indicate whether he is a buyer, designated as“B,” a seller, designated as “S,” or a short seller, designated as“Short.” In referring to “Short,” it refers to short sell orders. Whenthis is checked, it indicates that the trader who is making the orderdoes not currently own the stock to be traded.

At 808 of display 804, the trader will enter the symbol of the securityfor which an order is to be generated. At 810, the order ID is enteredand it will be used for identifying the order on the system. The traderwill also provide the order price for the symbol at 812 and the totalvolume at 814. Although not required, the trader may enter at 816 theminimum volume that may be traded in any transaction to fill the totalorder. The information requested at 806, 808, 810, 812, and 814 must beprovided by the trader and typically is not generated automatically bythe system based on the preferences if one of these fields is not is notfilled out.

At 818 and 820, sponsor information is added. At 818, the sponsor'sidentifier is entered. The sponsor identifier is to identify thesell-side brokerage firm associated with the order. At 820, the traderenters the sponsorship status. The sponsorship status can be either“Direct,” “Preferred,” or “None,” which is shown in FIG. 8 as “Pref.” Ifthe sponsorship status is “Direct,” it will mean that the order will beprocessed based on the selected Scope. If the Scope for the order is“Internal,” then it will only interact with other counter orders of thesame sponsoring broker. However, if the Scope for the order is“Multi-Broker,” the order will interact with other counter orders of thesame sponsoring broker or multi-broker orders from any other sponsor. Ifthe sponsor is set to “Preferred,” then it will mean the order will besent though a sponsor and will match against the orders from the samesponsor for seeking matches with orders from other sponsors. If this isset to “None,” then the order will match with no preferences.

The type information about the order is entered at 822 and 824. The typeof order is entered at 822. The type of order may be one of thefollowing: Firm Order, Indicative Order, Firm Staged Order, orIndicative Staged Order. These have been described previously.

At 824, the Invite Status is entered. The Invite Status selection willcontrol whether the order will be provided to potential counterparties.If the invite status is set to “Invite,” the system will invitepotential counterparties to firm up their orders for either a trade ornegotiation. If the status is set to “Invite to Trade,” the system willinvite potential counterparties to firm up their orders when a matchcould occur. If the status is set to “Invite to Negotiate,” the systemwill invite potential counterparties to firm up to enter a negotiation.And finally, if the status is set to “Off,” then the order will never beinvited or cause the system to invite another order to firm up fortrading or negotiation.

At 826, the trader will enter his/her price sensitivity that will beused in negotiations. Price sensitivity, as stated, is a number of ticksor pennies to apply in order to create a price buffer. The pricesensitivity field is optional and if a value is not entered, it will beset to zero.

At 828, trader will enter a volume sensitivity value to be used innegotiations. Volume sensitivity, as stated, is the number of shares tosubtract from a minimum volume to create the low end of the volumesensitivity range. The volume sensitivity field, like the pricesensitivity field, is optional and its value will be set to zero if thetrader does not enter a value. The trader in setting his/her orderpreferences can select a percentage value for price sensitivity and/orvolume sensitivity which will be applied automatically by the systemrather than the trader needing to enter these values.

At 830, the maximum auto-match volume value is entered. This value willbe the volume that is committed to automatically trading on the system.As indicated above, the total volume was entered at 814. This value isthe maximum value for the maximum auto-match volume entered at 830. Themaximum auto-match volume at 830 can be set at a number less than thetotal volume value. If the trader does not provide a value at 830, thesystem will set the value to the Leaves Volume.

At 832, trader will enter the priority selection. As indicated above,the priority selection can be either “Price” or “Volume.” If “Price” isselected, potential matches are based first on price, then volume, thenthe effective time of the counter order. If “Volume” is selected,potential matches are based on first a volume, then price, then theeffective time of the counter order.

At 834, at the Scope selection is entered and it will be either “Direct”or “Multi-Broker.”

At 836, a negotiation instruction for the orders is entered. Theselection here defines the trader's preference for enteringnegotiations. The trader can select one of five choices. The first is“Never,” which indicates the order will never initiate a negotiation.The second is “Pre-Trade,” which indicates pre-trade negotiations may beinitiated by the order. The third is “Post-Trade,” which indicatespost-trade negotiations may be initiated by the order as long as thereis volume available. The fourth is “Both,” which indicates pre-trade andpost-trade negotiations may be initiated by the order. The fifth is“Only,” which indicates auto-matching should not take place with thisorder and the only trades that can be made are via pre-tradenegotiations.

At 838 and 840, account information is entered. At 838, the traderprovides information that identifies on whose behalf the order is beingpresented. At 840, information is provided to indicate the type ofaccount on whose behalf the orders made. The selection may be either“Client” or “Pro.” “Client” (or Agency) would be entered if the order ison the behalf of a customer of a sponsor and “Pro” (or Principal) if theorder is on behalf of the sponsor.

At 842, the time in force entry is selected. The time in force selectionindicates how long the order is to remain in effect. The selections maybe “Day,” “IOC” to indicate that the order must be traded on submissionor it is canceled, or “GTT” to indicate the order will remain activeuntil a certain time is reached.

At 844, price protection information is entered. There are threeselections for this entry. The first is “Allow outside NBBO,” whichindicates the trade price can be outside NBBO price spread. The secondis “Inside NBBO” to indicate that the trade price must fall within theNBBO price spread. The third is “NBBO Mid-point or Better.”

The first and second selections have been previously described. Withregard to the third, it means that the trade price will be no worse thanthe NBBO mid-point. For example, the NBBO price spread is $40.10-$40.14and the NBBO mid-point is $40.12. If the buyer has indicated “NBBOMid-point or Better” set, then auto-matching would not occur if theseller's trade price was $40.13 and the buyer's trade price was $40.14because the seller's price is higher than the NBBO mid-point. However,if the seller's price was $40.12 or less, then auto-matching could takeplace at the NBBO mid-point or a lower value.

At 846 and 848, the trader enters the locate broker information. Theinformation entered at these fields will indicate brokers who haveinventory for the symbol at issue that can be made available to cover ashort sell order.

Once the information discussed above has been entered into the New Orderform shown on display 802, the trader will activate the Submit button852, which will enter the new order information into the system. If thenew order is accepted, the system will return a notification to thetrader as shown at 850 in display 802. However, if the trade is notsatisfied with the information on display 802, or has submittedinformation and wishes to submit information for another new order,he/she may activate Reset button 854 to reset the display and enter thenew information.

Referring again to FIG. 7, when Windows icon 710 is activated thedrop-down menu is provided as shown in FIG. 9, generally at 900. Thedrop-down menu at 902 has at least four icons. These are Symbol WatchList icon 704, Order Blotter icon 906, Negotiation icon 908, and Messageicon 910. The operation of the system and method of the presentinvention will now be discussed when each of these icons is activated.

When Symbol Watch List icon 904 is activated, the display in FIG. 10 isopen. Typically, a trader will place symbols on the symbol watch list sothat he/she may watch them to determine if it is appropriate to enter anoffer to buy or sell a symbol.

Referring to FIG. 10, display 1000 is provided on system client browser106. Display 1000 includes display identifies line 1002, symbol entryline 1004, and window 1006. The symbol watch list display provides thetrader with an ability to obtain a real-time view of each of the symbolscurrently on the system of which he/she has an interest and its currenttrading state activity level. At window 1006, information about eachsymbol of interest is provided. This information is the symbol for thesecurity, trading state for the security, the activity state of orderson the system, and the modification date, which is the time the symboltrading state became effective.

The trader populates the symbol watch list in one of two ways. The firstis to enter the desired symbol at 1008 on symbol entry line 1004 andactivate Submit button 1012, or it will automatically be populated whenthe trader enters an order. Symbols can be removed from the symbol watchlist by activating the Cancel button associated with a symbol, such asCancel button 1010 for the symbol TELK.

Again referring to FIG. 9, if the trader activates the Order Blottericon at 906, the display at FIG. 11 will be opened. Referring to FIG.11, generally at 1100, display 1102 has display identifier line 1104,control line 1106, and window 1108. The Order Blotter window provides alist of all of a trader's orders for a predetermined period. This willinclude all outstanding orders, fully traded orders, and canceledorders. Control line 1106 provides trader with the ability to displayall of his orders or just active orders. The window will be updated inreal-time as conditions for the listed orders change.

Referring to window 1108, information about a specific trader's ordersis provided. The columns of window 1108 display all of the informationthat was provided in the new order form plus the current trading stateof the symbol. The information that is not from the new order form thatshows the current status of trading for the particular order are LeavesVolume column 1112, Traded Volume column 1114, State column 1116, #Negotiations column 1118, and Investigate column 1120.

State column 1116 indicates the current state of the order in thesystem. Here, the state may have one of the states shown in Table 1. #Negotiations column at 1118 will indicate the number of negotiationscurrently in progress for the indicated order. The negotiations that arecounted include both active pre-trade and post-trade negotiations.Activation of the button in this column for a particular order will openthe Negotiations window associated with the order. Investigate column1120 when activated for a particular order requests that a marketcontrol entity to investigate events related to that particular order'strading activity.

Again referring to FIG. 11, if Order ID “LAB1” at 1110 is taken, forexample, because it refers to the order that was placed through the neworder form shown in FIG. 8, generally at 800, the status shows that atthe present time 20,000 shares of the 100,000 shares of the symbol havebeen purchased, which results in a Leaves Volume of 80,000 shares, andthere is currently one negotiation taking place.

If the trader activates a particular order in the order ID column, itwill open up the Order Form display that is shown in FIG. 12, generallyat 1200. Referring to FIG. 12, the Order Form display includes displayidentifier line 1202, display control line 1204, and window 1206.Referring to the control line 1204, the trader will indicate the type ofaction he/she wants to take with respect to the order. As seen at 1208,the trader may desire change the values and conditions of the order orhe/she may choose to cancel the order altogether.

Referring to window 1206, at 1210, the trader can adjust the price ofthe order at 1212, the minimum volume at 1212, and the total volume betraded at 1214. Again referring to window 1206, the Sponsor informationcan be changed at 1216 and the Type information can be changed at 1218.At 1220, the Leaves Volume information will be adjusted based on anychanges that would be made to the total volume. Finally, at 1222, thetrader can enter the reason for the change or cancellation of the order.This latter entry is not a required field to be completed.

Again, referring to the New Order form shown in FIG. 8, it is to benoted that there is additional information that was provided in display801 that has been discussed thus far with respect to the Order formdisplay shown at 1200 in FIG. 12. Access to this additional informationwould be provided for consideration by activation of Expand button 1224.Once all the changes have been made to the order using the Order Form atFIG. 12, the trader will activate Submit button 1226, which will submitthe changes to the system.

As indicated above, the Order Form that is shown in FIG. 12 is accessedthrough the Order Blotter display shown in FIG. 11. However, the OrderForm that is shown in FIG. 12 will be automatically provided by thesystem when a staged order is received by the system from an OMS or EMS,or there is an invitation by the system for an order to convert from anIndicative Order to a Firm Order.

Again referring to FIG. 9, if the trader activates the Negotiation iconat 908, the Negotiations window shown at FIG. 13 will be opened. Thenegotiations window may also be opened, as stated, if the traderactivates the button in the # Negotiations 1118 of the Order Blotterdisplay shown in FIG. 11 for a particular order.

Referring to FIG. 13, generally at 1300, the Negotiations window permitsthe trader to evaluate and communicate offers in real-time to reach atrade. Negotiations that are reported in this window include, as stated,pre-trade and post-trade negotiations.

Each Negotiations window that is opened is directed to a specific order.The window will show each contra order in negotiations with regard tothe order. When a negotiation begins, it is placed in a pending statusuntil both counterparties enter their starting offers. After this time,the system puts the orders in negotiation. The conditions for pre-tradenegotiations to commence with a Firm Order are (i) the contra order is aFirm Order, (ii) the two orders are close in both price and volume, orclose in one and cross/overlap in the other, (iii) both orders haveindicated they will allow pre-trade negotiations, (iv) both partiespassed the other contra party's filter settings, and (v) the symbol isin a state that permits negotiations, i.e., there is not a Halt in placeregarding the symbol.

Further, as stated, post-trade negotiations may be commenced when thefollowing conditions exist: (i) both orders have volume available, (ii)both orders have indicated they will allow post-trade negotiations, and(iii) both parties have passed the contra party's filter settings.

Again referring to FIG. 13, display 1302 has display identifier line1304 and order identifier line 1306. Display 1302 shows twonegotiations. First negotiation is shown generally at 1308 and thesecond at 1310. Referring to the first negotiation shown at 1308, it hasNegotiation identifier line 1312, current offer window segment 1314 andhistory window segment 1316. The second negotiation at 1310 providessimilar information.

Referring to the first negotiation shown at 1308, negotiation identifierline 1312 includes a contra party's starting price and the overlapvolume that generated negotiation. It also includes theAcknowledge/Unacknowledge button at 1318. The Acknowledge/Unacknowledgebutton is activated by the trader to indicate awareness of the existenceof the contra offer or changes in negotiations transmitted by the contraparty.

Current offer window segment 1314 provides the current offer informationwith respect to the parties. The segment also provides Accept button1322 that the trader may activate to accept the current contra offer. At1324 and 1326, fields are provided for the trader to amend his/her offerfor the negotiation. If the trader does change the offer terms, he/shecan submit them by activating Submit button 1327. History window segment1316 provides the negotiation history in descending time order.

Investigations button 1328 may be activated by the trader to investigatea negotiation. When activated, it will cause the Investigation Requestdisplay (not shown) to be opened. The investigation request will allowthe trader to request investigation of events associated with trading ofthe order. For example, an investigation may be requested if the tradernoticed the order did not trade as expected, there has been improperactions by the counterparty during negotiations, or the trade has asuspect trade price. The configuration of the window will be appropriatefor providing the information needed to initiate the investigation.

Referring to FIGS. 14 and 15, starting a pre-trade negotiation will bedescribed. Referring to FIG. 14, generally at 1400, display 1402 isshown with an offer open for negotiation. Display 1402 has displayidentifier line 1403, order identifier line 1404, negotiation identifierline 1406, current offer window segment 1408, and history window segment1410. Order identifier line 1404 indicates that the order is to sell60,000 shares of “LAB.” Since this is the beginning of negotiation andan identified potential contra party has not provided initial terms,then, selling trader's offer is shown at 1412 and a contra offer at 1414is indicated as “Pending.” The system trader's price and volume is thelast price and volume that he/she entered into the system for thesymbol. The seller's offer is submitted to the system by activation ofSubmit button 1418. History window segment 1410 reflects the time thenegotiation was commenced by the seller and when the seller submittedhis/her initial offer to the system to begin a negotiation.

FIG. 15, generally at 1500, shows display 1502. Display 1502 has displayidentifier line 1504, order identifier line 1506, negotiation identifierline 1508, current offer window segment 1510, information line 1512, andhistory window segment 1514. It is to be noted at information line 1512that the system has responded to the seller's offer by providinginformation that the offer was accepted by the system.

At 1518 of display 1502, a contra party's contra offer is shown. Thiscontra offer is in response to the seller's offer at 1522. If theseller's decides he/she would like to accept the contra offer, Acceptbutton 1520 would be activated. If the seller did not want to accept thecontra offer but wants to continue to negotiate, he/she could enter anew offer price at 1524 and volume at 1525. Then, by activation ofSubmit button 1518, the new offer terms will be entered into the system.History window segment 1514 will reflect the activities that take placein the negotiation until it is either completed or canceled.

Referring to negotiation identifier line 1508, the seller canacknowledge receipt of the contra offer by activatingAcknowledge/Unacknowledged button 1516. This acknowledgment will betransmitted to the system where it may be used by the system for manypurposes including providing notification either individually or acrossthe system that the seller has received and acknowledged the contraoffer. As previous described, the description section at 1526 of historywindow segment 1514 provides a description of the actions that havetaken place.

Referring to FIGS. 16 and 17, starting a post-trade negotiation will bedescribed. Referring to FIG. 16, generally at 1600, display 1602 isshown with display identifier line 1603, order identifier line 1604,negotiation identifier line 1606, current offer window segment 1610, andhistory window segment 1620. Order identifier line 1604 indicates thatit is waiting for starting positions from the contra parties to trade15,000 shares of the security of “LAB” at the price and volume shown. Itis a noted, however, that order identifier line 1604, indicates theamount of the “Leaves Volume.” By this being a post-trade negotiationtransaction, the volume to be negotiated is for the amount of the“Leaves Volume.”

Since this is the beginning of negotiation, there has not been thesubmission of an initial offer by the seller or contra party. It is tobe noted that at 1612 and 1614, the initial price and volume amounts forthe post-trade negotiations are entered and when Submit button 1616 isactivated, the offer will be sent to the system for acceptance andposting. It is further be noted that Cancel button 1618 is available tocancel the post-trade negotiation at any time.

Referring to current offer window segment 1610, prior to the sellersubmitting the offer shown at 1612 and 1614, the offer price and volumewill be shown as “Pending.” Similarly, until the original offer isprovided and the contra party has an opportunity to enter a contraoffer, the volume and price for the contra offer also will be indicatedas “Pending.”

FIG. 17, generally at 1700, shows display 1702. Display 1702 has displayidentifier line 1704, order identifier 1706, negotiation identifier line1708, current offer window segment 1710, and history window segment1712. If the offer price and volume shown at 1612 and 1614 in FIG. 16 issubmitted to the system and accepted, it will be shown as the seller'soffer at 1716 in FIG. 17. At 1718 in FIG. 17, a contra party's offerprice and volume are shown. If the seller desires to accept the contraoffer, he/she would activate the Accept button at 1727. If, however, theseller does not want to accept the contra offer and wants to continue tonegotiate, he/she she could enter a new offer price at 1720 and volumeat 1722. Then, by activation of Submit button 1724, the new offer by theseller would be entered into the system. History window segment 1712reflects the activities that take place in the negotiation until it iseither completed or canceled. Cancellation of the negotiation would becarried out by activation of Cancel button 1726.

Similar to the negotiation identifier line 1508 in FIG. 15, the sellercan acknowledge receipt of the contra offer by activatingAcknowledge/Unacknowledged button 1728. This acknowledgment will betransmitted to the system where it may be used by the system for manypurposes including providing notification either individually or acrossthe system that the seller has acknowledged receiving the contra offer.

As discussed above the respect to FIGS. 11 and shown in FIGS. 12-17,there is an Investigations button which when activated will cause ascreen to open for a party to enter an investigation request. Theinformation that may be associated with the investigation requestincludes any or all the following information: (1) reference to theorder that triggered the request, (2) reference to the negotiation thattriggered a request, (3) reference to trade that triggered the request,(4) the date and time of the request, (5) a description of the problem,(6) the time the request was investigated, (7) the description of theresolution of the problem, and (8) the current state of theinvestigation. The state of the investigation will be either Open,Active, or Closed.

The system also will generate appropriate Alerts to indicate to eachtrader either the completion of events or events that need his/herattention. These Alerts may be audible or visual, e.g., flashing screenelement.

The system and method of the present invention gather significantamounts of data regarding the trades that take place over the system.The statistics that are generated from this information is used toprovide filters to screen out underperforming counterparties, and isavailable for generating reports about the data and operation of thesystem. Table 6 below provides at least some of the data that may becollected by the system. After providing the table below that covers theinformation that is gathered, filtering for counterparties on the systemwill be described.

TABLE 6 Type Area Data Collected Indicative Conversion rate from 1.Percentage of Indicative Orders canceled. Orders Indicative to Firm 2.Conversion rate to Firm when invited to firm Orders up by the system. 3.Conversion rate to Firm when invited to firm up by the system. 4.Conversion rate to Firm when invited to negotiate by the system. 5.Conversion rate to Firm when invited to negotiate by the system. FirmOrders N/A 1. Conversion rate from Firm to Indicative Orders. 2.Percentage of Firm Orders canceled. Pre-Trade Negotiations that 1.Average duration of successful pre-trade Negotiations were caused bybeing negotiations. “Close” 2. Percentage of pre-trade negotiationsNegotiations that successfully completed. were caused by being 3. Forunsuccessful negotiations: “Crossed” with auto- a. Percentage of failedpre-trade negotiations match off and due to trader moving his priceaway. preferences b. Percentage of failed pre-trade negotiations due tothe trader canceling the order. c. Percentage of failed pre-tradenegotiations due to the counterparty moving his price away. d.Percentage of failed pre-trade negotiations due to the counterpartycanceling the order. e. Percentage of failed negotiations due to acompeting negotiation. f. Percentage of failed negotiations due to anauto-match. Executions N/A 1. Percentage of Firm Orders traded. 2.Percentage of trades that were auto-matched. 3. Pre-trade negotiatedtrade data: a. Percentage of pre-trade negotiations at a worse price. b.Percentage of pre-trade negotiations at a better price. Post-TradeN/A 1. Percentage of auto-matches that went into Negotiations post-tradenegotiations. 2. Percentage of post-trade negotiations that weresuccessful. 3. Post-trade negotiated trade data: a. Percentage ofpost-trade negotiations completed successfully when the maximum valuehas already been traded. b. Percentage of post-trade negotiations tradedat a worse price when the maximum volume has already been traded. c.Percentage of post-trade negotiations traded at a better price when themaximum by volume has been ordered and traded. d. Percentage ofpost-trade negotiations completed successfully when the maximum valuehas yet to be traded. e. Percentage is post-trade negotiations traded ata worse price when the maximum volume has yet to be traded. f.Percentage of post-trade negotiations traded at a better price when themaximum volume has yet to be traded. 4. Average duration of successfulpost-trade negotiations. 5. For unsuccessful post-trade negotiations: a.Percentage of post-trade negotiations where the trader cancelednegotiation while it was pending. b. Percentage of post-tradenegotiations where the counterparty canceled negotiation while it waspending. c. Percentage of post-trade negotiations where the counterpartycanceled negotiation while it was active.

As mentioned previously, the system and method of the present inventioncalculates a scorecard for use in filtering to determine whether topermit a counterparty into negotiations. These scorecards do not applyif there is an auto-match. The trader in setting his/her preferenceswill indicate the score value below which he/she will not enter intonegotiations with a counterparty. The intent of scorecard filtering isto reward “good” traders and not reward “bad” traders as these entitiesare defined by the trader's preferences. Therefore, to extent that atrader is deemed a “bad” trader by another, the “bad” trader will seldomor never be invited to convert an Indicative Order to a Firm Order toparticipate in a trade or negotiation until that trader's behaviorchanges for the better.

Table 7 below addresses the negotiation situations in which a trader'sbehavior is filtered for purposes of determining whether or not he/sheshould be permitted to enter into negotiations. The filter column foreach counterparty in Table 7 should be checked by the appropriatecounterparty before determining whether to enter in with negotiationswith a particular counterparty. It is to be noted that the system canprovide the filtering information without destroying system anonymity.

TABLE 7 Order Situation: Close or Counterparty A Counterparty B CrossOrder Type Filter Order Type Filter Close Firm CLNS Firm CLNS Close FirmFUTNF Indicative CLNS Close Indicative FUTNI, Indicative FUTNI, CLNSCLNS Crossed: Firm N/A Firm N/A Symbol (Auto- (Auto- with Auto- Match)Match) Match OFF Crossed: Firm CRNS Firm CRNS Symbol with Auto- Match ONCrossed: Firm FUTTF Indicative N/A Symbol (Auto- with Auto- Match) MatchON Crossed: Indicative FUTTI Indicative FUTTI Symbol with Auto- Match ONCrossed: Firm FUTTF, Indicative CRNS Symbol CRNS with Auto- Match OFFCrossed: Indicative FUTTI, Indicative FUTTI, Symbol CRNS CRNS with Auto-Match Off

The following table, Table 8, provides a description of the filters thatare represented by acronyms in Table 7:

TABLE 8 Filter Description CLNS Information from negotiations thatstated as “Close”: a. Average duration of successful negotiations b.Successful negotiation rate c. Unsuccessful rate details d. Cancellationrate e. Moved away right CRNS Information from negotiations that statedas “Crossed”: a. Average duration of successful negotiations b.Successful negotiation rate c. Unsuccessful rate details d. Cancellationrate e. Moved away right FUTNF Firm Up To Negotiate by a Firm Order: a.Conversion rate to firm up to negotiate when requested by the systemwhen the other order is a Firm Order. FUTNI Firm Up To Negotiate by anIndicative Order: a. Conversion rate to firm up to negotiate whenrequested by the system when the other order is an Indicative OrderFUTTF Firm Up To Trade by a Firm Order: a. Conversion rate to firm up totrade when requested by the system when the other order is a Firm OrderFUTTI Firm Up To Trade by an Indicative Order: a. Conversion rate tofirm up when invited when requested by the system when the other orderis the system.

The system and method of the present invention also contemplates the useof a filter related to post-trade negotiations. The Post-TradeNegotiations (PTNS) filter considers the following with respect to thecounterparty: (1) the average duration of negotiations, (2) thenegotiation success rate when auto-match filled the maximum volume, and(3) the negotiation success rate when the auto-match did not fill themaximum volume.

The actual scorecard calculation may be on a trader basis or based ontrading desk transactions. It either case, the scorecard value iscalculated based on at least a selected number of transactions that arespecified in system configuration data. However, a trader may select toignore the scorecard process altogether and it will still be within thescope of the present invention.

To provide some perspective on the trending of trading behaviors, thescorecard may be calculated on a weighted average basis taking intoaccount how recently events occurred. For example, the scorecardcalculation may be weighted higher with respect to more recenttransactions than ones that took place a while ago. As a specificexample, if 100 transactions fell within the time window forconsideration for the scorecard, the most recent 25% (transactions76-100) may have a weighting factor of “5,” the next most recent 25%(transactions 51-75) may have a weighting factor of “3,” and the oldest50% (transactions 1-50) may have a weighting factor of “1.” However, itis understood that other weighting factors could be used with otherpercentages of transactions being considered and still be within thescope of the present invention.

Taking the example of weighting factors shown above, if there was areview of the trading transactions during four time segments (TS) and atTS1, the earlier TS, there were no transactions that took place forscorecard purposes but in the remaining three time segments sequentiallyafter that, TS2, TS3, and TS4, there were the type of transactionstaking place that are under consideration for filtering purposes, thenthe scorecard based on 100% for the occurrence of at least onetransactions of this type and 0% for no occurrence, the following wouldbe the calculation:

$\frac{\left( {100*5} \right) + \left( {100*3} \right) + \left( {100*1} \right) + \left( {0*1} \right)}{10} = 90$

Noting the calculation above of a weighted score and value above, if acounterparty would accept counterparty scorecard values of 85 and above,the scorecard filter would be passed and the trading activity wouldcommence. It is understood that weighted averages method is not the onlyone that could be used to calculate a scorecard value, and other methodsmay be used and still be within the scope of the present invention.

When a trader, sponsor, or trading desk (through which a number oftraders may access the system) access on the system for making trades,the system must be configured. Referring to FIG. 18, generally at 1800,the system configuration display screen is shown. Display screen 1802has display identifier line 1804, information segment 1806, Submitbutton 1808, and Reset button 1810. The information that is required tobe provided by the trader, trading desk or sponsor is shown at 1806. Theinformation shown in 1806 is required by all system users.

At 1812, a system user is required to provide “Account Required”information. If the appropriate box is not checked, it will indicatethat the trading desk configuration settings will have precedence overthe trader settings. If the appropriate box is checked then the tradersetting will override the trade settings. At 1814, the system user willinput the length of time to maintain transaction history beforearchiving. At 1816, the user indicates whether he/she desires to disablethe scorecard feature. If this is not checked, it will indicate that theuser will conduct negotiations without consideration of the behavior ofpotential counterparties.

At 1818, the system user provides the number of months as a period oftime for considering orders for making scorecard determinations. At1820, system user provides the maximum number of orders in consideringin calculating scorecard determinations.

At 1822, the system user indicates by checking the appropriate box thathe/she desires to report whether the buyer and seller clearingcorrespondents, and source types are the same to an appropriateauthority. At 1824, the system user indicates whether or not he/shedesires to have all of their trades consolidated for reporting purposes.

At 1826, the system user indicates the maximum number of ticks orpennies that the NBBO can be crossed and still be valid for purposes ofeffecting a trade. At 1828, the user indicates the price at which he/sheconsiders a symbol to be classified as a small price stock. This will bea monetary value. At 1828, the user provides the number of decimalspermitted in the price of a symbol defined as a small price stock.

Once the information is entered on the system configuration display at1806, the system user will activate Submit button 1808 to enter theinformation into the system. If at the system user is unhappy with theinformation that is to be submitted, or has submitted information andwould like to clear the display to enter different information, he/shecan activate Reset button 1810 to clear the information so newinformation may be added.

Although the information shown at 1806 has been described, is understoodthat other information may be submitted for each system user and stillbe within the scope of the present invention. For example, the systemmay request the system user to provide the following:

TABLE 9 Configuration Item Description Threshold Number The minimumnumber of orders that must have been of Orders executed before thescorecard filter can be applied. There will be a minimum value for eachscorecard item. Default This will be the default value for theNegotiation negotiation lower price limit percentage. Lower Price LimitPercentage Default This will be the default value for the Negotiationnegotiation upper price limit percentage. Upper Price Limit PercentageMaximum This is a maximum lower price limit value that Negotiation canbe configured. Lower Price Limit Percentage Maximum This is the maximumupper price limit value that Negotiation can be configured. Upper PriceLimit Percentage

As discussed previously, “Sponsors,” which are sell-side brokeragefirms, are identified on the New Order Form at FIG. 8 and the Order Format FIG. 12. Each sponsor shall submit configuration information in orderto be authorized to access the system. The information that is to beprovided by the sponsor includes, but is not limited to, what is shownin Table 10:

TABLE 10 Configuration Item Description Maximum Order This the maximumvalue that orders sponsored by Value the Broker cannot exceed. Allorders above this maximum will be rejected by the system. This maximumvalue is determined by multiplying the order price times the ordervolume. Daily Maximum This is the maximum value of sell trades for theValue on Sells sponsor in a given trading day. The sponsor may also setLevel 1 and 2 warnings, which are percentages of reaching the maximumvalue. Daily Maximum This is the maximum value of buy trades for theValue on Buys sponsor in a given trading day. The sponsor may also setLevel 1 and 2 warnings, which are percentages of reaching the maximumvalue. Daily Gross This is the maximum value of the buy and sell MaximumValue trades for the sponsor in a given trading day. The sponsor mayalso set Level 1 and 2 warnings, which are percentages of reaching themaximum value. Maximum Number This is the maximum number of locatebrokers of Locate allowed to be specified on an order. Brokers On anOrder

There is certain configuration data that may be needed for applicationto all traders that are entering orders through a sponsor. Thisinformation is provided by the sponsor. There are at least three liststhat apply for this purpose. There is an Easy-To-Borrow List that liststhe symbols that the sponsor will allow short sell orders without theneed of specifying a locate broker. The second is the Threshold SymbolsException List that lists the symbols that the clearinghouse hasrestricted short selling for specific reasons. However, the sponsor canoverride this restriction and permit selling for the traders actingthrough them. Orders for these symbols must have the sponsor as a locatebroker. And the third list is the Restricted Symbol List that has ordersymbols that will be rejected if entered into the system.

Referring to FIG. 19, generally at 1900, a display is shown for thesubmission of sponsor configuration information for each trader thesponsor represents. Display 1902, includes display identification line1904, display information segment 1906 and sponsor/firm data at 1908.

At information segment 1906, the sponsor provides self-identificationinformation at 1914. At 1916, the sponsor provides the informationregarding firm (trader) it represents. At 1918, the sponsor indicateswhether or not the firm is permitted to enter short sell orders. At1920, the sponsor indicates whether the firm can only enter into shortsell orders if the symbol appears on its Easy-To-Borrow List. At 1922,the sponsor indicates whether the firm is permitted to indicate a shortsell order as exempt.

At 1924, sponsor indicates indicates the maximum order value that cannotbe exceeded for the firm indicated above. This would be the order pricetimes order volume, which will be compared to this maximum. If thismaximum is exceeded, the orders will be rejected.

At 1926, 1928, and 1930, sponsor enters information with regard to dailysells for the firm indicated at 1916 above. At 1926, the sponsorprovides the maximum value of sell trades for given trading day. Thisdoes not refer to orders. At 1928 and 1930, the sponsor sets two levelwarnings to indicate when specified percentages of the daily sell limitsare reached for the firm. Once the firm reaches the maximum limit, thesystem will cancel all remaining sell orders in the system for thatfirm.

At 1932, 1934, and 1936, sponsor enters information with regard to dailybuys for the firm indicated at 1916 above. At 1932, the sponsor providesthe maximum value of buy trades for given trading day. This also doesnot refer to orders. At 1934 and 1936, the sponsor sets two levelwarnings to indicate when specified percentages of the daily buy limitsare reached for the firm. Once the firm reaches the maximum limit, thesystem will cancel all remaining buy orders in the system for that firm.

At 1938, 1940, and 1942, sponsor enters information with regard to grossdaily buys and sells for the firm indicated at 1916 above. At 1938, thesponsor provides the maximum value of trades for given trading day. Thisalso does not refer to orders. At 1940 and 1942, the sponsor sets twolevel warnings to indicate when specified percentages of the gross dailybuy and sell limit are reached for the firm. Once the firm reaches themaximum limit, the system will cancel all remaining buy and sell ordersin the system for that firm.

If the sponsor is satisfied with that information at 1914-1942, he/shecan submit this information to the system by activation of Submitbetween 1910. However, if the sponsor wishes to reset the informationbecause he/she is not satisfied with it or wants to clear the display toadd new information after an earlier submission, the sponsor wouldactivate Reset button 1912.

The sponsor also submits information to the system with regard to eachsymbol for which it represents a firm (trader). Referring to FIG. 20,generally at 2000, the sponsor's submission of the Sponsored Firm SymbolList will be discussed. At 2002, the display identifier line is shown.Similar to FIG. 19 at 1908, FIG. 20 at 2024 provides a list of firmsthat the sponsor represents.

At action line 2004, the sponsor indicates what is being submitted. Itmay be either a new submission to the list, an update of an existingsymbol on the list, or deletion of the symbol from the list.

At 2006, sponsor enters its identification and at 2008 the firm'sidentification. The symbol at issue is listed at 2010 and at 2012 thesponsor indicates whether or not the firm will be allowed to short sell.

If the sponsor is satisfied with the information at 2004-2012, he/shecan submit this information to the system by activation of Submit button2014. However if the sponsor wishes to reset the display information forany reason he/she would activate Reset button 2016.

At 2018, the sponsor can provide list of firms and symbols it sponsors.This list may be submitted the system by activation of the Submit Listbutton 2020. Again as before, if it is desired to reset the displayinformation for any reason, the sponsor will activate Reset List button2022.

To the extent that the system accommodates a trading desk, which willdefine the attributes for its member firms for interaction with thesystem, there is a need for the trading desk to provide configurationinformation for this purpose. This information will be submitted to thesystem and govern the activity of its members with respect to systeminteraction.

Referring to FIG. 21, generally at 2100, a display is shown for thesubmission of trade desk configuration information. Display 2102includes display identifier line 2103, information segment 2104, and at2110 the other trade desks that exist for a particular firm of whichthis trading desk is part.

At 2112, the trading desk provides its identification information. At2114, trade desk is required to indicate whether Account Required isappropriate. This applies only if the same setting in FIG. 18 for thesystem configuration is set to “No.” At 2116, the trading indicates thepercentage of freely floating shares that are applied to the upper dailylimit of the average daily volume percentage to get the maximum value.

At 2118, the trading desk provides the negotiation lower price limitpercentage. If the negotiation offer price deviates such that it isbelow this percentage then trader must reenter the price. At 2120, thetrading desk provides the negotiation upper price limit percentage. Ifthe negotiation offer price exceeds the NBBO by greater than this pricein negotiation the offer is rejected.

At 2122, the trading desk enters the maximum order value for a singleorder. The maximum order value is determined by the price times thevolume of the order. If value is exceeded, the order will be rejected.

At 2124, 2126, and 2128, the trading desk enters information with regardto daily sells for the trading desk. At 2124, the trading desk providesthe maximum value of sell trades for a given trading day. This does notrefer to orders. At 2126 and 2128, the trading desk sets two levelwarnings to indicate when specified percentages of the daily sell limitsare reached by the trading desk. Once the trading desk reaches themaximum limit, the system will cancel all remaining sell orders in thesystem for that trading desk and not permitted it to enter any more.

At 2130, 2132, and 2134, the trading desk enters information with regardto daily buys for the trading desk. At 2130, the trading desk providesthe maximum value of buy trades for given trading day. This also doesnot refer to orders. At 2132 and 2134, the trading desk sets two levelwarnings to indicate when specified percentages of the daily buy limitsare reached for the trading desk. Once the trading desk reaches themaximum limit, the system will cancel all remaining buy orders in thesystem and not permit it to enter anymore.

At 2136, 2138, and 2140, the trading desk enters information with regardto gross daily buys and sells for trading desk. At 2136, the tradingdesk provides the maximum value of gross trades for a given trading day.This also does not refer to orders. At 2138 and 2140, the trading desksets two level warnings to indicate when specified percentages of thedaily buy and sell limit are reached for the firm. Once the firm reachesthe maximum limit, the system will cancel all remaining buy and sellorders in the system for the trading desk and not permit it to enteranymore.

If the trading desk is satisfied with the information at 2112-2140,he/she can submit this information to the system by activation of Submitbutton 2106. However if the trading desk wishes to reset the displayinformation for any reason, he/she would activate Reset button 2108.

The trading desk can also establish specific rules for use using itsmembers that will control their ability to enter new orders on thesystem. Further, the trading desk can establish rules for permittingchanges to be made to existing orders by its members. There are a numberof ways that this can be done which are within the scope of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 22 generally at 2200, a display is shown forindividual traders to enter their preferences. Display 2202 includesdisplay identifier line 2204, “New Order Default Settings” section 2206,“New Order Default Calculation Settings” section 2208, “ConfigurationData” section 2210, and “Play A Sound When . . . ” section 2212.

Referring to FIG. 22 at 2206, when a new order is entered, the tradercan select certain default settings for that new order. If the order issubmitted via the system client browser, the default settings at 2218will be used, and if the order is submitted via the OMS (or EMS), thedefault settings at 2220 will be used.

Again referring to 2206, the description of sponsor information at 2222,type information at 2224, Invite Status information at 2226, time inforce information at 2228, price protection information at 2234,negotiation instruction information at 2236, priority information at2238 have been discussed previously with respect to the New Order formdisplay at 800 and such descriptions are incorporated here by reference.At 2232, the trader is asked to provide whether or not the sponsor modeis “Preferred.” It is intended that when a trader is acting through asponsor so this field will be marked as “Preferred.” The other selectionfor this entry is “Direct” that has been described previously.

At 2240, the trader is asked to add capacity information. The capacityinformation is whether the participant in the trade is an Agency,Principal, or Exempt Principal.

Referring to FIG. 22 at 2208, the new order default calculation settingswill be discussed. It is shown, that the trader will enter theinformation in this display for entering an order either using thesystem client browser or the OMS (or EMS). At 2242, the trader willenter the minimum volume percentage, and at 2244 the negotiation volumesensitivity percentage. The minimum volume percentage will be used bythe system to calculate a minimum volume based on the maximum amountbeing traded to determine whether or not a trade will be effected. Ifthe buyer falls below this amount, there will not be a trade. Thenegotiation volume sensitivity percentage at 2244 is used by the systemto calculate the minimum number of shares to subtract from the minimumvolume to create the lower limit volume buffer.

Referring to FIG. 22 at 2210, configuration data that is provided by thetrader will be discussed. At 2246, the trader indicates whether he/shedesires to automatically add a symbol to the symbol watch list when anew order is received. At 2248, the trader indicates whether he/shedesires to desires to automatically remove a symbol from the symbolwatch list when there have been no orders for that symbol underpredetermined criteria, for example, such as time or there is no marketis open for the symbol. This will apply only if the symbol wasautomatically added to the symbol watch list.

Referring to FIG. 22 at 2250, the trader adds the percentage value ofthe maximum number of orders allowed daily for a particular symbol atwhich trader will be notified of same via a notification warning.

Referring to FIG. 22 at 2212, the trader provides information withregard to events when he/she desires to receive audible warnings fromthe system. At 2252, the trader will receive a warning when a newnegotiation has been recorded; at 2254 when an existing negotiation'sterms has been changed by the counterparty; at 2256, when a negotiationopportunity has been received; and at 2258 when a trade has occurred.

If the trader is satisfied with the information at 2222-2258, he/she cansubmit this information to the system by activation of Submit button2214. However, if the trader wishes to reset the display informationfrom any system, he/she would activate Reset button 2216.

The information with respect to a trader may also be used by the systemto provide necessary information for new orders that come into thesystem via another path other than through the system client or OMS (orEMS) system.

Referring to FIG. 23, generally at 2300, the trader's submission ofprice sensitivity information will be discussed. Display 2302, includesdisplay identifier line 2304, action line 2306, sensitivity informationsegment 2308, and price sensitivity summary segment 2314. Referring toaction line 2306, the trader will provide information whether he/she isproviding a new price sensitivity default, updating a default, ordeleting a default.

Referring to sensitivity information segment 2308, at 2320, the traderwill provide the upper limit of a range to which the price sensitivitypercentage input at 2322 and at 2324 will be applied. The system willuse the numbers input at 2322 and 2324 to generate percentages to use incalculating price sensitivity for new orders if the value is notspecifically set.

If the trader is satisfied with the information at 2320-2324, he/she cansubmit this information to the system by activation of Submit button2310. However, if the trader wishes to reset the display information forany reason, he/she would activate Reset button 2312.

At 2314, the trader may provide a set of ranges for price sensitivityalong with the numbers that will be used for calculating the pricesensitivity percentages. Again, the information is provided for both thesystem client browser and OMS (or EMS) derived orders.

If the trader is satisfied with the information at 2314, he/she cansubmit this information to the system by activation of Submit Listbutton 2316. However, if the trader wishes to reset the displayinformation for any reason, he/she would activate Reset button 2318.

Again referring to FIG. 9, if the trader activates the Message icon at910, it opens a Message window (not shown). This window may include thefollowing message types: order acknowledgement messages, trade fillmessages, negotiation acknowledgement messages, and alert notificationmessages. These messages typically will be listed in the window indescending time order. Each message may contain a time stamp and messagecatalog number, and may be accompanied by an audio queue if the tradermade it one of his preferences according to section 2212 in FIG. 22.Although, the message information has been described above, othermethods of listing messages and identifying them may be used and stillbe within the scope of the present invention.

Again referring to FIG. 7, display 706 has Actions icon 712. When thisicon is activated, it will provide a drop-down menu that will permit atrader to change or cancel an order previously submitted to the system.

The terms and expressions that are use herein are meant for descriptionnot limitation. It being recognized that there may be minor changes ormodifications that must take place and be within the scope of thepresent invention.

1. An electronic trading system for anonymously trading at least largeblock trades of securities, comprising: a plurality of system userinterfaces for system users to communicate with an electronic tradingplatform for anonymously trading at least large block trades ofsecurities in buy and sell transactions; a communications network forbi-directional communications between the plurality of system userinterfaces and the electronic trading platform; and the electronictrading platform in bi-directional communications with the plurality ofsystem user interfaces through the communications network, with theelectronic trading platform at least comprising, first means forreceiving and comparing firm orders to buy or sell specified securitiesfrom system users and auto-matching such firm orders to buy or sellspecified securities between counterparty system users to automaticallycomplete a transaction; second means for determining if trade pricingfor auto-matching firm orders to buy or sell specified securitiesbetween counterparty system users is according to pricing rules, withsuch pricing rules specifying that trade pricing will have apredetermined relationship to a national best bid or offer (NBBO) pricespread that includes auto-matching firm orders if the buy and sellprices for the security are within the NBBO, the buy and sell prices forthe security are outside the upper limit of the NBBO, or the buy andsell prices for the security are outside the lower limit of the NBBO;and third means for determining if the NBBO price spread is a valid NBBOprice spread.
 2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein each of theplurality of system user interfaces includes a personal computer,desktop computer, or workstation.
 3. The system as recited in claim 1,wherein a firm order includes an order volume that is committed to tradeby the system user.
 4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein aspecified security includes a security having a specific identifyingsymbol.
 5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the communicationsnetwork includes a wired or wireless network.
 6. The system as recitedin claim 5, wherein a wireless network includes the Internet.
 7. Amethod for anonymously conducting at least large block trades ofsecurities on an electronic trading platform, comprising the steps of:(A) the electronic trading platform receiving from system users firmorders to buy and sell specified securities and storing the receivedfirm orders in storage means; (B) the electronic trading platformcomparing each system user's firm order to buy or sell a specificsecurity stored in the storage means with firm orders to buy or sell thespecific security of counterparty system users that are stored in thestorage means; (C) the electronic trading platform testing a nationalbest bid or offer (NBBO) price spread to determine if it is valid, andif it is valid, then step (D); and (D) the electronic trading platformauto-matching and automatically completing a transaction betweencounterparty system user firm orders to buy or sell the specificsecurity if trade pricing is according to pricing rules, with suchpricing rules specifying that trade pricing will have a predeterminedrelationship to NBBO price spread that includes auto-matching firmorders if the buy and sell prices for the security are within the NBBO,the buy and sell prices for the security are outside the upper limit ofthe NBBO.
 8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein a firm orderincludes an order volume that is committed to trade by the system user.9. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein testing the validity of theNBBO price spread includes determining a historical NBBO price spreadover a predetermined period of time and if a current NBBO price spreadthat is being used for auto-matching at step (D) is outside thehistorical NBBO price spread, then such current NBBO price spread isinvalid.
 10. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein testing thevalidity of the NBBO price spread includes determining if a NBBO pricespread is greater than a predetermined ratio with respect to thespecific security's share price.
 11. The method recited in claim 7,wherein the pricing rules at least include that if a matching tradeprice for firm orders to buy and sell a specific security of thecounterparty system users to a potential trade is within the NBBO pricespread, then a trade price for auto-matching will be the matching tradeprice.
 12. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the pricing rulesat least include that if a matching trade price for firm orders to buyand sell a specific security of the counterparty system users to thepotential trade is greater than an upper limit of the NBBO price spread,then the trade price for auto-matching will be the matching trade price,if the counterparty system user to a potential trade buying the specificsecurity has previously agreed to trade outside the NBBO price spread.13. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the pricing rules at leastinclude that if a matching trade price for firm orders to buy and sell aspecific security of the counterparty system users to the potentialtrade is less than a lower limit of the NBBO price spread, then thetrade price for auto-matching will be the matching trade price, if thecounterparty system user to a potential trade selling the specificsecurity has previously agreed to trade outside the NBBO price spread.14. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the pricing rules at leastinclude that if auto-matching has a NBBO mid-point or better as a limit,then auto-matching can occur only if the other counterparty's tradepricing is set with the NBBO mid-point as the trade price limit asappropriate for such other counterparty being a buyer or seller.
 15. Themethod as recited in claim 7, wherein system users communicate with theelectronic trading platform through a wired or wireless network.
 16. Themethod as recited in claim 15, wherein the wireless network includes theInternet.
 17. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein system userscommunicate with the electronic trading platform through thecommunications network using an interface device.
 18. The method asrecited in claim 17, wherein the interface device includes a personalcomputer, desktop computer, or workstation.
 19. The method as recited inclaim 7, wherein crossed trade prices under the pricing rules include afirm order trade price of a counterparty system user to a potentialtrade buying a specific security being higher than a firm order tradeprice of another counterparty system user to the potential trade sellingthe specific security.
 20. The method recited in claim 19, wherein thepricing rules at least include that if trade prices for firm orders tobuy and sell a specific security of the counterparty system users to apotential trade cross and are within the NBBO price spread, then a tradeprice for auto-matching will be the counterparty trade price that isclosest to a NBBO price spread mid-point.
 21. The method recited inclaim 19, wherein the pricing rules at least include that if tradeprices for firm orders to buy and sell a specific security of thecounterparty system users to a potential trade cross and such tradeprices are equally distributed from a NBBO price spread mid-point, thenthe trade price will be a NBBO price spread mid-point.
 22. The method asrecited in claim 19, wherein the pricing rules at least include that iftrade prices for firm orders to buy and sell a specific security of thecounterparty system users to a potential trade cross and at least thetrade price of the counterparty system user buying the specific securityis greater than an upper limit of the NBBO price spread, then the tradeprice for auto-matching will be the trade price closest to a NBBO pricespread mid-point, if the counterparty system user to the potential tradebuying the specific security has previously agreed to trade outside theNBBO price spread.
 23. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein thepricing rules at least include that if trade prices for firm orders tobuy and sell a specific security of the counterparty system users to apotential trade cross and at least the trade price of the counterpartysystem user selling the specific security is less than a lower limit ofthe NBBO price spread, then the trade price for auto-matching will bethe trade price closest to a NBBO price spread mid-point, if thecounterparty system user to the potential trade selling the specificsecurity has previously agreed to trade outside the NBBO price spread.